Wednesday, February 13, 2008

the results will be out on friday! but if you've overdue library fines, amongst other things, you can't check your results online. i sure hope i've paid my dues!

the tiny hospital (or rather, the geriatric hospital) is simply lovely. there are gardens EVERYWHERE. in fact, it seems as though the whole place is a garden, and the hospital happens to be smack right in the middle of it by chance. there's even a soccer court! i guess they're really trying to encourage everyone to be healthy, doctors included. unfortunately, i suck at all types of soccer, table football included. :(

my friend and i have been assigned to a geriatrics ward! which isn't good for me because i can't for the life of me speak dialects, which means that history taking is completely out for me :( thankfully my friend can manage a little and is a really good-looking boy so all the elderly ladies in the ward enjoy pinching his cheeks and cooing over him whilst i stand to the side and try not to laugh in between asking him to translate my questions.

unfortunately, he has had enough of all this and is determined to avoid getting pinched or patted anymore (i stay wisely further away) so we are going to the male wards to find patients after ward rounds for the next few days. i only hope the elderly men are not as affectionate. or else, i hope they're all gay!

and there's an army ward here too! to my vivid imagination, it's full of hunky soldiers with rippling muscles and 6 packs, all ready to be loved back to health. to my friend, i am simply deluded and he insists its full of malingerers and daft guys who're simply unlucky. either way, maybe we'll venture in there soon! ;)

we've been having such early days! as in, i get to go home for LUNCH. my consultant usually dismisses us after ward rounds, which end at 11 latest (there's only about 12 patients) and we usually hunt around for a bit to see if there's any nice patients who'll talk to us or let us examine them, then we head home for lunch. and this despite my staying almost 2 hours away! i get to eat lunch at 2 plus latest, which is great because i usually hate hospital food. :Dand speaking of which, the canteen here doesn't look too bad, but it's really small. not much choice! so i'm happy to go home for lunch, as you can tell.

there's so so much to read up on, i feel as though i've forgotten ALL my medicine stuff. it seemed much easier 1 year ago! then again, memory erases the bad and keeps the good. anyhow, it's a good reality check as to how much there is to re-learn, or rather, learn, because i'm really doing somethings for the first time.

neuro is terrible as usual, i cannot elicit the right signs, let alone localise the signs or remember the 6 syndromes of 3rd nerve palsy etc etc. neurologists must be an incredibly brilliant bunch! i've a good mind to practice the cranial nerves on my parents everyday, though i don't know how much they'd stand for it. hmmm. but something has got to be done, i really really don't want to risk looking like the stupidest pea in the can when the prof takes us for a neuro tutorial tomorrow.

meanwhile, thanks for all the kind words and encouragement :) it's been a lot of help! :D

3 comments:

Good to have a placement in lush grounds, I think seeing the difference 'tween inner city teaching hospitals and smaller more rural district general hospitals is what swung it for me wanting to work in the latter.

Geriatric medicine was a placement I enjoyed, not for learning much pathology/diagnosis/intervention but purely for the history taking. I loved talking with the patients, learning what the clinical issues were and the context this arose within (what was happening in their lives) that made it an issue to them, then.

ditzy doctor wannabe is a struggling med school student who is trying to learn as much as she possibly can whilst attempting to overcome hypersomnia. she loves shopping, eating, watching tv and movies, cheerleading and distance running amongst other sports. this blog is a tribute to her patients and funny incidents in hospital, who always make her laugh